Whenever I'm Alone
by xbleeple
Summary: After their first date Sharon finds a small purple box waiting for her on her desk...


**A/N** : Just a cute little one shot around an idea that's been bouncing around in my head for a while. I'd initially considered a longer fic of a series of shots, but decided to wrap it all together as this cute little blip. This covers up to/through the Wedding!

* * *

The first time the box showed up on her desk it was three days after their first date. It was small, just big enough to hold a jewelry box that might hold a pair of earrings or a ring. The box was a deep purple and well crafted out of heavy stock. A thin silver ribbon was wrapped around it and looped together in a bow on top to keep it closed. There was no note tagged to the top or underneath, but Sharon assumed that only one person could have left it for her.

She sits down in her chair and sets the files in her hand down on the pile on the desk top before grabbing the box. The weight is slight, and it feels almost hollow in her hands. She plucks a tail of the ribbon and pulls it undone before taking the top off of the box. Her brow furrows as she looks at the contents. On top was a small card, maybe the size of two postage stamps with "Play Me" inscribed in a tell tale messy script. She moves the card to the side and finds a black iPod shuffle nestled in a bed of white tissue paper.

Looking up, Sharon scans the murder room, finding the rest of the team still seated at their desks working on paperwork. She takes the iPod out and sets it on her desk before bundling up the box and setting it next to her phone. She manages to dig her earbuds out of her purse before plugging them in and nestling them in her ears. Slipping the lock into an unlocked position she presses play and smiles as music starts to fill her ears. The tunes drift along, seven of them in total, playing on a loop as she finishes her paperwork for the afternoon.

She only gets to keep the iPod for a week before it's swiped off of her desk and returned on Monday with a new set of songs. She doesn't always know all of the songs that he picks out for her but she always enjoys them. There's an ebb and flow to the songs. They always manage to attach to a simple moment in their life. Sometimes the songs would get deeper, more rooted in melancholy if they'd had an argument. If they'd gone to a show or the orchestra they would be from related works.

When Andy had ended up staying with her during the issue with his blood clot the box had appeared on her desk at home instead of the one at work. And while he was in the hospital it was waiting for her on his bed tray when she had stopped by one day while he was out for testing. In December the box and songs became more festive. It changed to green with a red and gold ribbon and the songs were more winter and Christmas oriented. After the New Year the purple box returned until the week of Valentine's day where he chose an obnoxious pink box and ribbon with tiny red hearts. The songs were happy and centered around love, but there were only six.

It wasn't until he'd come over that evening to cook her dinner that he had revealed song number seven to her and danced her across the living room, her melodic laugh mixing in with the song. As the song drew to a close he playfully dipped her, careful of the furniture surrounding them, and pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss. Sharon pulled back from the kiss with a soft hum and grinned at him, her hand stroking his cheek as she murmured a quiet 'I love you' to him.

For their first anniversary he'd worked her into a tizzy making her think that she'd either lost her phone or it had been stolen before returning it in the evening with the year's playlist Ioaded onto it for her. He'd laughed as she swatted at him furiously at the dinner table. Once he moved into the condo the box would take up residence on her dresser, but would still disappear each week much as it had before.

The Monday after his heart attack her eyes roamed the dresser top, looking for the purple box out of habit.

He had taken it back from her the morning he collapsed in the murder room and they never made it home that night. She'd been convinced to go home that morning to shower and sleep in something that wasn't being hunched over in a chair next to Andy's bed.

Sharon brushes her hand over the surface of the dresser, brushing away the small amount of dust that had accumulated. She'd had plans for a weekend in to deep clean the apartment before everything had happened. Turning to face the rest of the room she makes her way over to Andy's bedside table and pulls the drawer open. The box was inside with a few different odds and ends, nestled perfectly on top. She picks the item up and pauses before she pushes the drawer closed again. Underneath the box was a small 3 by 5 black and white photograph of herself. She was sprawled out on her front in Andy's old bed, naked as the day she was born save the sheet bunched up around her hips. Her arms were crossed under the pillow under her head and her eyes were closed, whether in rest or sleep she couldn't remember.

Sharon closes the drawer slowly before carrying the box out to the living room and plugging the iPod into her computer. She clears out the songs from the previous week and starts to scroll through her own music library to pick her own selection. Once the songs are loaded she takes a shower and a quick nap before going back to the hospital. She makes her way into his room and thanks Provenza for staying before sitting down next to his bed. She untangles the headphones before gently slipping them into his ears and turning the music on. The small player gets clipped to his gown and she wraps her fingers around his, pressing a kiss to his knuckles as she watches him sleep.

The next week when he finally comes home and gives it back to her she about throws it onto Los Feliz Boulevard when the first song she hears is _Don't Go Breaking My Heart_. The second is _My Heart Will Go On_ and she wraps her fingers a little bit tighter around it as she curls into herself just a little more as she sits on the balcony. Of course Andy would have made a playlist about his heart to make her feel better.

Given her boyfriends proclivity for creating timely playlists, Sharon should have known something was up the week he proposed. Yet he still managed to take her completely by surprise that night. He spoiled her after the explosion at the office, giving her more to listen to as she took a few days off to recover from smoke inhalation. Though he regretted including the funnier songs after making her use her rescue inhaler twice after succumbing to laughing fits while listening.

Once they had started planning the wedding in earnest Andy had offered to coordinate music for the reception. Not thinking anything of it and happy to get something off of her plate Sharon had agreed. She'd shoved the list of approved DJs over to him and moved on to looking through the catering menus that had been provided, hoping to find one that served at least one dish that was remotely heart healthy.

After her diagnosis she was surprised that the entire playlist he had provided her was instrumental. Strings and pianos melted together into haunting but comforting tunes. She didn't know how he knew her so well to know what she needed before she did. But he did, and she supposed that was part of the reason they were getting married. They fit so well.

With the case of the St. Joseph's Three behind them and their wedding in front of them she had taken a moment to step off to the side with the coordinator at the church.

"I want to play a different song," Sharon explains. She sticks her hand into the pocket of her blazer and pulls out the iPod, handing it over, "There's…there's a different version of Ave Maria on this. Can you play it? Off of here, I mean."

"Of course," The coordinator nods with a smile, taking the iPod from Sharon before the woman is whisked away to get changed.

When the doors finally opened at the beginning of the ceremony she offered him a small smile, bordering on a smirk as their eyes connected. He didn't always need to be the surprising one. Yet later in the evening he still managed to pull one over on her. Both of them had been wrangled by the kids to actually sit down and eat dinner when it was served. They had both just finished their salmon dinners when the DJ announced that it was time for their first dance.

"I didn't realize we had picked a song," Sharon comments as Andy pulls her towards the small dance floor.

"You picked it," Andy comments as he keeps a hold of her hand before wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer.

"I picked it?" Sharon arches her eyebrow, "Of all of the things I _have_ picked for this wedding, I can assure you that the song for our first dance was not one of them."

"But you did," Andy replies with a knowing smile as soft guitar strums start to filter through the church's small reception hall and he steps forward to begin moving with her. Sharon's eyes widen as she recognizes the song as _Lovesong_ , looking up at him with wonder. It had been on the first set of songs he'd given her after their first date. She'd recognized it from the Adele CD that Emily had given her a few years before whilst trying to branch out her musical tastes and had put it on her phone even before Andy had added his anniversary playlist, keeping it on heavy rotation, "Out of the eight hundred plus songs I've given you over the last two and a half years this is the song you have by far listened to the most."

"It's true," Sharon murmurs as she steps closer to Andy and rests her head against his shoulder, "The song I mean."

"Why do you think I picked it?" Andy smiles as he presses a kiss to her temple.

"It was only one date."

"After a year and a half of not dates…" Andy laughs softly, "I knew. I knew when I didn't want to admit to Nicole that we weren't really dating. I knew that first night when I brought you home. You've always been it, Shar."

"I love you," Sharon whispers as she pulls him even closer.

"I love you too," Andy smiles against her hairline, "I love you very very much."

* * *

[TBC]


End file.
